Training Montage

I saw Rocky Balboa last night, and it was decent. All I wanted the movie to do was erase Rocky V from my memory, and it successfully accomplished that task. Not the greatest Rocky ever made, but certainly not a terrible movie. I will say that even at age 60, Rocky (Sly Stallone) training to music gets my blood pumping. I love movies with pump up music. As I leave the theater, I find myself convinced I could kick anyone's tail that might give me the slightest bad look.

Feeding off my high from last night, I put my earphones on, tuned my IPOD to the Rocky soundtrack, and returned to my fantasy world as I worked out. Maybe I'm just a goober and love the movies of the 80's and early 90's too much, but still nothing gets me fired like some good Rocky music. When I hear the steady guitar strum of "eye of the tiger, or John Cafferty start into "Hearts on Fire" I start hopping around and throwing shadow punches. I can still remember watching Rocky IV as a child, and then attempting to do hanging situps from a chair.

Here are my 5 most beloved tunes that I pop in when I need to get fired up or beat someone up
1) Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
2) Hearts of Fire - Rocky IV (John Cafferty)
3) Enter Sandman - Metallica
4) Welcome to the Jungle - G N R
5) The Final Game - Hoosiers Soundtrack

Just for good measure, here are two of the greatest pump up scenes of all time. If you are having a bad day at work and need something to get you through, or just feel the need to do some situps....give these two a watch. The first is a great "chill scene"...you actually can see goosebumps on my arm when Adrian whispers "win."
1.


2. And of course the reason the Cold War finally ended....the Rocky IV training montage. I love when ole Rocky gives the guy and his horse some help. However, the best chill scene in Rocky IV occurse when the announcer screams "The Russian is cut."


In conclusion:
Watching Rocky Balboa shows the viewer the inevitable aging effects on even a physical speciman like Sylvester Stallone. The skin gets leathery, wrinkles begin forming, and the muscles aren't quite as prominent. Don't get me wrong, I don't even look close to that at age 25, but you get my point. The move soberly reminded me that we all have a finite number of beats in our hearts. One day my heart will stop and it will all be over. Creation is in decay and groaning for the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Rom. 8). On that day he will redeem our bodies and all of creation. At age 25, I tend to forget that I am groaning for something else. The most important question we can ask ourselves is, "Am I justified before the throne of God and therefore striving to live in obedience out of a gracious, loving heart?" All of our hearts will one day stop, our bodies will break down, and we will realize with Lars Ulrich (another great pump up music artist...drummer for Metallica) that "the last thing that I've been unable to control in my quest to control everything around me is death." But it is there that we must realize it is Jesus Christ who conquered death through death. He paid the penalty of our sin, and by faith we are united to his resurrection....thus securing ours.